1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a communication apparatus using the semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in the field of communication and the field of information processing, with the increase in processing speed, the development of a functional element which is smaller, has a wide application band or has excellent energy efficiency is demanded.
In the field of a semiconductor device or a functional element, a material having negative dielectric constant or magnetic permeability was theoretically predicted in 1998, and thereafter, the effect was confirmed in an artificially constructed material, and much attention is suddenly paid to the material from the viewpoint of device application and system application.
At present, a variable beam antenna, a variable filter or the like using a metamaterial of new material or structure is vigorously studied. Here, the metamaterial is an artificially formed left-handed material (substance) having negative dielectric constant or magnetic permeability in electromagnetic and optical properties.
In the propagation of an electromagnetic wave in related art, the propagation direction of an electric field and a magnetic field is represented in a right handed transmission line (RH-TL). On the other hand, the metamaterial is called a left-handed material because the propagation direction is reversed by the effect of the negative dielectric constant and magnetic permeability, and the relation is represented in a left handed transmission line (LH-TL).
As a functional element using the metamaterial, for example, an array antenna (leaky wave antenna) is known in which voltage is applied to liquid crystal formed as a stub inductor, and the phase is controlled so that the beam direction can be manipulated (see, for example, JP-A-2006-211328 (Patent Document 1)).